Soup from Dehydrated Veggies

good afternoon beautiful people!!!       it's been a day or three since I've gotten a post up and for that, I do apologize.         I've had a rough 3 or 4 weeks and it finally caught up with and slowed me down.     I don't like to admit it, but I'm getting older.        well, it is what it is.        hahaha         what started out to be rheumatoid flare in my right knee ended up being a little more than that.       at this point in time, I'm still not really sure what's going on.        but I'm hopeful I'll find out soon.       but just praying that I can hurry up and get over this, and soon.        I'm ready to do some serious container gardening and I can't do that with a bum knee.         but I do know that God is good all the time and He is in charge of this situation.        I have had to ask His forgiveness several times over the last few weeks and just last the couple of days.        patience is not a gift of mine, but I think He is working on me.        I just need to pay more attention  to Him and less attention to the noise around me.        so, I you or someone you love is dealing with knee or any joint problems, just pray for them, because they can sure use the prayers.

well, enough about me and my problems.         lets do a fun project.      not only was it fun, but it was also delicious.         these are projects that I can sink my time and teeth into.       hahaha        hope you enjoy it.

this was last friday when I made this soup and I've had a hard time getting it posted, due to my knee issues, so if you want to, you can check with the calendar to see when I actually done this.    so with this, let's do a "2 minutes in the kitchen with me".

this morning (I think it was April 26th) was "prep for the week" morning. I usually prepare what I call our "fast food" for the coming week on fri and sat. we wanted some plain old vegetable soup.       I had been wanting soup for a couple of weeks.       I went thru my store bought canned goods and got those pulled, opened and in the electric pressure cooker (epc).        next, I brought out some of my dehydrated goods.        and that's what I'm sharing, more than anything and the very last picture is a mishap.

the first picture is every one of the jars that I used in this soup. 

the first jar from left to right: onions yellow and white; 

next is a jar of carrot chunks with a jar of garlic on top (I blended the garlic and then spread it on the solid tray and when dry, broke it into pieces and put it in the jar); 

next is a jar of mushrooms and a jar of mushroom powder on top; 

next is a 21 blend jar of all kinds of mixed veggies just blended to make a very coarse grind and on top of it is my homemade imitation chicken bouillon; 

next is a jar of soup veggies of all kinds and a jar of diced potatoes on top; 

and the final jar is my green onion blades.       (after it was finished, I realized that I didn't put my dehydrated bell peppers in this soup, boohoo)

I don't measure, I just use hands full.       when I got ready to close the epc up I probably had 3 cups of all of these in there in addition to the canned and rinsed produce I use.       greenbeans, corn, mixed veggies, green peas, spaghetti sauce, a 32 oz box of chicken stock, and probably a cup or a cup and a half of water.

the next 2 pics are close ups of the jars I just shared.             

then there is a pic of the soup.       (the smell of this soup is incredible from the dehydrated goods I added) 

the pic with the spoon shows a piece of my diced potato as compared to the potato in the mixed veg that I used.  

I do a half inch dice on my cubed potatoes.        it rehydrates so good.

now, for the last picture, it's baby bella mushrooms that I dehydrated about 2 or 3 weeks ago.

   

I got them dehydrated and they were cracker crisp  and a piece would even  crumble, that's how dry they were.        well, I started to leave them on the dehydrator for another 24 hours, but I didn't.       so I jarred them and conditioned them for a week.        (watch them daily for a week and shake the jar daily to make sure there is no moisture causing them to stick or become soft.)       well, after a week I set them in the cabinet with the intentions of getting more and start working on a large jar of baby bellas.        I was going to put some of these in the soup.          I opened the jar and it was under pressure, it hissed and spewed at me!!!         the mushrooms, in less than a weeks time had gone bad!!       I have never ever had anything to form gas to the point of making a hissing sound when I opened a jar.       this is a first in 25 years of dehydrating.       that gut feeling I had of keeping them on the dehydrator for another 24 hours, I should have followed thru with it.

I shared this about the mushrooms just a reminder for me that even when I do everything right, something can go wrong.          always smell everything while it's fresh, as your preparing to dehydrate, as you dehydrate, as you jar it and as you open it each time. train yourself what absolutely everything smells like and then when and if you come across something like I just did, you'll know by smell that something isn't right.          there was not much an off smell, not strong at all and if I wasn't in the habit of smelling everything all the time, I may not have noticed and would probably have put them back on the dehydrator.          when I opened the jar, I was so startled at what happened, there was no question that it was going in the trash and I dumped it before I got a picture.        this picture is from the trash can. hahaha       when I dumped it in the trash it was soft, just as if it hadn't even been dehydrated.       I didn't leave it on the dehydrator long enough,   plain and simple, even though it was cracker crisp and crumbly.          if I hadn't found the jar today, it would have been a jar of mold in a month or two.  

everything I dehydrate is for long term storage and that's why I always dehydrate all my produce till is "cracker crisp, rock hard and bone dry".        today was just another reminder for me to always follow my gut when it comes to more time or not.        more time is always better than less time. well, it is for me anyway.

well, this is all I have this go around.       I need to rest a bit and get my leg up for a little bit.         I hope you seen something here that you like.         tell someone today that God is good all the time!!!          I hope and pray that you all know this.       sometimes it's easy to forget just how good He is when we're going thru something.        but just always remember that we're never alone.         of we may not see Him at our side, but we can certainly feel His presence.        I'm so thankful God in my life, especially in the difficult times.        but I'm also thankful for His presence in the good times.         He's the giver of them all and He is the sustainer thru it all.         sometimes it's hard to remember to be thankful in all things, but His word tells us too.       Paul said that he had learned to thankful in the times of abundance and in the times of lack.        we should all try to be thankful at all times.       in season and out of season.       to me that means at all times.        

Father God, help me to remember that You are good all the time.      help me to remember that You made a way for me to be in right relationship with You thru the shed blood of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior!!        help me to remember that You gave us Your Comforter in the form of Holy Spirit.       You have given us so much and for that, I'm grateful.         Thank You Father God for loving me!!!   amen

remember that God loves you and wants to be in right relationship with you.       I love y'all too.        hugs and blessing to all, patty   

Problem or Solution, which one best suits you?

good morning from my neck of the woods.           it rained a little earlier this morning but the sun is shining right now and it's really pretty.          I'm hoping to get outside and work on/in my garden area and get ready to transplant more and possibly get some seeds sowed directly in my containers.        first, I have to combat the squirrels.        they dig in everything and are the bane of my existence right now.    rotten fuzzy tailed rats won't leave my containers alone.           so I've got figure out how to keep them out of all my containers!!!         big chore, but I've got an idea or two.            we'll see.

yesterday's post was possible the beginning of me getting a lot of stuff out of my head into writing for myself and to just try to free up some head space for the good stuff.         today's post is another rant of sorts, so if it's not for you, then I'm sorry.           I have found that for me, getting it in writing helps me a lot.           I can forget about and move forward.           and all the while I put it in writing, I also realize there are lots of people that maybe could benefit from what I might have to say, either directlly or indirectly.         anyway, if this isn't for you, then you can stop right here.         hahaha

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I have come to the conclusion, in life, that we are either part of the problem or part of the solution.       we just have to figure where we fit in.          I have always tried hard to be part of the solution.           we live with a lot of people that work hard at being a part of the problem and they are surviving and thriving.         but I work hard at trying to be a part of the solution.           sometimes that involves pointing out stupidity and ignorance when I see it.           

do you want to know how rediculous and stupid people have gotten over the last few years?            well, if so, read on.           there is a facebook page, I can't remember what it's called, but they post old pictures on there.         pictures of how things were done early on when people were opening this country up to actually live in.         right after the invention of the camera.           there are some pretty spectacular pictures on that facebook page.

we live in a day and age now, where everyone thinks they know better than everyone else about what should or should not have taken place with the early settlers.           most of them are like myself, once they set their fingers to typing, they prove just how ignorant and stupid they are.         99% of the comments on one set of pictures was of tree huggers blasting what the settlers had done in cutting down trees back in the day.          well, my friends, if you want to live in something, wear something, drive something, eat something..........nature has to be disturbed.         there is NO way around it.         for the settlers, they had to do it all, figure it all out, make it happen and just do it.          today, all we have to do is bellyache about what they done.          some of these idiots don't even stop and think for a split second how it ALL affects them.         when the people of today, that have helped make lives better, are gone, these bellyachers will be wishing they had taken better notes on how to live, survive and thrive on the land that the early settlers cleared for us to live on.          the greatest generation this country has ever seen has been long gone.          and from all appearances, the generations coming behind my generation will be doomed when my generation is gone.      

I read a lot of the comments on that one set of pictures and I responded.           while there were several people like me, looking at pictures in amazement at what they accomplished back then, most of the commenters were bashing what they had done.         they had never thought for a split second what that generation had done for them.          you can hug trees all day long, but, if at the end of that day, you have to sleep on the ground, what did that tree do for you?         God created the earth and everything in it, on it and around it for us to use!!!!!!        and I do mean EVERYTHING on it, in it, above it and all around it, to be used by us!!         He knew and still knows what He's doing.          and I think He may be like me, wondering how those people think they would or could ever survive without using the supplies He provided for us!!!!

of course all the disparaging remarks from those people only apply to the comfort of others.          if anyone else is comfortable, it's wrong.         they can always find ways of shaming others.          using plastics, using oils, using gas, using wood, using coal, using rock, using the soil, to name a a few.    take any one of these away from those people and their lives would fall completely apart.          take them all out and they would be waiting for lightening to strike.            do you see how utterly rediculous these arguments sound?

well, I sure do.          below is my response to all the tree huggers.          I was pretty proud of it when I got done with it and posted it.          it got lots of responses from like minded people who have lived and have worked hard and know the value of the work that the preceeding generations have done so that we can have a level of comfort that they didn't have.         the best thing I can take away from that particular post, and from the tree huggers, is that this country and world is not in good hands and I think we are starting to see that.          the tree huggers have too much time on their hands and are not working hard enough to provide for their families.          truth be known, the taxpayers are supporting them so they have to berate and belittle those of us who have worked and tried to make this country and world a better place.

"""If they had not cut trees, we all might be living in mud, thatch houses today.         but then again, that would require disturbing the soil and using water to make mud.         People are gonna be people, and complain.              But then people would be complaining about wasting mud.           Go figure.                  I think the world has already seen the greatest generation of all time, and after that generation; the quality of each individual person has declined tremendously.            I'm thankful that I came from people that done what it took to help make this a great country, but there are too many today that are doing their best to destroy this country.               If anyone lives in a stick built house with stick built furniture and writes on paper that is made from wood or uses pencils that have wood outer covering, should I go on, then shame on those people!!               Think of all the trees that have been used for your comfort.                If you live in a brick house, think of all the earth that was damaged to dig the rock that was ground into making the block foundation and the rock that goes into some of the brick.               We can get very silly with everything we want to shame others about.           But in the end, if you live in a house, and have heat and air in that house, and electrical appliances, wear clothes, drink water, drive a car, buy gas for the car or charge your car because you have an electric car, eat food, then be careful about the stones you throw, they may bounce off of something that you are taking advantage of, that you are beating others up with.              Talk to some of the older generations that are still alive, get their opinions, not that opinions mean a whole to me, because I go by my own life experience.               I am working on my Doctorate from the school of hard knocks and I've seen, done, and heard a lot.                  At the end of the day, I am thankful and grateful for the heroes of this great country that has helped make it a great country.            But there are those among us who are bound and determined to tear it down.                  I'm thankful that I have fewer days ahead of me than what is behind me.               So hopefully I won't have to see the greatest part of destruction that is coming, for the people, from the people that are bound and determined to undo all the good that has been.      Success is viewed differently from each individual.           Just something to think about.         And yes, I do have a "block" button and know how to use it.          Oh yes, and thinking of technology, without any of the "tree cutting" that took place many years ago, we wouldn't be sitting here on our fancy technology.               Take tree cutting out of the picture, and you take just about EVERYTHING out of the picture.                 We could even go back farther than the stone age.              What if we had to wait for a lightening strike to get fire?             And then what if we had to figure out what to do with the fire once we got it?            I for one, am thrilled with all the modern conveniences we have.           I haven't seen many of the protesters going naked or hungry either."""

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well, that's it for today.             I hope and pray that if you read this thhat you can say that you area part of the solution and NOT a part of the problem.            God gave us everything to use!!!!!           He expects us to use it.            if you don't believe that, just be careful of how you throw stones, because they bounce off a lot of the stuff that we take for granted in our fancy homes.        

be blessed today and know that everything was made by God for our comfort.          He loves us that much.         hugs, love and blessings be yours today, patty

"Channel or Vessel", which one am I?

good day beautiful people.          I hope and pray that you are all doing well these days.         I'm sorry for being absent for a while, but I needed a break.         I don't know if I'm back for the long haul yet or not.          I think I have decided to just take it a day, week, or month at a time and see what I have to share.         I do have several things that I can share about different things and I'll try to start that soon.

for now, the weather in my neck of the woods has finally started turning towards spring weather.         but yesterday the temps got up to 87*.           it was hot but it felt good and my seedlings loved it.         I have a lot of gardening to try to get done over the next 3 or 4 weeks.           I hope I can do it all.         it seems like it gets a little more difficult each year.           I'm sure it has nothing to do with age!!!         hahaha

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the title of this post is where my heart has been for quite a while.         "Channel or Vessel", which one am I?            which one are you?          what does it mean for us and those around us?

I had to take a serious look at this.         time for some soul searching and seeing where the Lord leads me in this.          some is good and some is actually ugly.         the ugly is what I've got to try to get rid of.         

we live in a world of instant technology.         in your face technology.         we're constantly bombarded with that said technology.          we was promised early on, 40 to 50 years ago that it was good and that it would makes our lives better.         boy was they ever wrong.           you know what, with all the instant bombardment of whats going on around the world, that's why our hearts are always racing, our blood pressure is always off the charts high and our health is failing.         you know what, human beings weren't designed to carry the weight of the whole world.         Jesus has done that for us.          we weren't designed to sit in front of a tv screen, or cell phone, or computer  and watch all the world events taking place 24-7.           we just weren't.         that's why home life is suffering, that's why we have children that don't know whether they are boys or girls.          that's why grown men and women that don't know what gender God designed them to be.          that's why this world has gone to hell in a hand basket as quickly as it has.           that's why no one knows who they are; who God made them in their mother's womb to be.         are you bucking the system so to speak, by denying yourself to be the male or female that God formed you to be while in your mothers womb?          if so, you are hell bound.        that's as simple as I know to put it.          that's not my opinion.           that's what the Word of God says.          if you don't believe me, read His Word.        you'll be quite astonished at what His Word says.         so when you're reading this, if you get upset, that's fine,  just make sure that you know that the Word of God says this and it's not just my opinion.          if I tell you it's just my opinion, then I'm part of the problem.      because when we go against God's plan and design for men to be men and women to be women, we are going against His will and that makes us the problem.         so I need for you to understand that this in not my opinion, but Gods Holy Word.

so as I struggle within myself to even find it within me to care about those out here that are living worse than animals and indoctrinating those that don't know any better, I have found it very frustrating and  hard to be a voice of reason while living is such an insane world.        this is insanity.         it can be described as nothing else.         insanity!!!!       

we murder babies on a daily basis!!!           insanity!!!!!!!            claiming mothers rights.      insanity!!!!         what about just going to the vet and getting spade or neutered.         that's what people do with their cats and dogs.            if you can't keep your legs closed, then maybe you need to see a vet.      people have more care and concern about dogs and cats than they do about human beings.         call it a blob of cells or a fetus or what ever you want to call it.        it's still a baby, created in the image and likeness of God, in the womb and it's a human being.         if you don't believe me, read the bible.         it's in there.       

all of this backwards insanity has just about taken it's toll on me.          something else that's just about pushed me to my limit is the state of our health care, or lack there of and the fact that no one actually cares.        everyone is of the mind, as long as it doesn't affect me, who cares?           well, I care and always have.         one person can't do much, but lots of people can.

we live in the day of indoctrination.           what ever evil and wicked action and behavior that one wants to participate in, they can and they have the right to indoctrinate those around them at the same time.         but Christians don't have those rights.           do you realize that we can get thrown in jail for telling someone that what they are doing is evil and wicked.            yeah, it's getting that bad.         we can't tell anyone that killing their baby, just because they didn't have enough self control to keep their legs closed can get us in trouble, all the while it's perfectly ok to kill a human being.    

when I think of all the crap that we have been indoctrinated with and are constantly bombarded with, it actually makes me sick.          sick enough to step away from my blog for a while.         it make me sick enough to try to even decide if I want or need any of this so called technology any more.

so that's why I took some time off and started to think about "Channel or Vessel, which one am I?"

lets look at these 2 words.          I haven't done any looking in the dictionary for any formal descriptions of either word.          what I'm going by is my uneducated definition of both words.         I figure my life experience can speak well enough for me in my descriptions of both words.

what is a channel?         when I envision what a channel is, I see a stream, or creek going from place to another.          water running from one area to another.          water in a running tributary stays pretty fresh and free flowing and most of the time, it's a very pleasant sight to see.        sometimes after a flood, it's not so pleasant to see.       a channel can also become blocked on one end and then it's a hazard and becomes a problem to others.      another description of a channel, to me, is something like a moat.          a ditch or trench with standing water to keep something in or to keep something out.          usually the water standing in something like this kind of channel, it will get stagnate.           it stinks, the soil and ground holding it is rotten with foul smell.        a channel can be full of good stuff or bad stuff.      

what is a vessel?           a vessel is something like a boat, pot or a bucket or a vat or large container to hold or carry stuff.        from liquids to grains to rock.            I most generally think of water again.         a water bucket holds something essential to life.             water is one of the essential elements we can't live without.            but when that vessel of water becomes stagnete, it's not good for sustaining life anymore.         it can be full of sickness.          a vessel full of soup is a wonderful thing, but when it's set out on the counter for 2 weeks, what ever was in that vessel is not healthy for consumption.          vessels can be full of good stuff or bad stuff.

a channel and a vessel are very similar in most all ways.           when I really look at what each are, they are very similar.         looking at our lives, which are we?           so, are we a channel or a vessel?            I've come to the conclusion that we are both a channel and a vessel.         but what I really need to decide about myself is, am I a good channel and vessel or am I bad channel or vessel.    

I want to be a  good vessel and manage the life that God has given me as well as I possibly can, with His help.        I've made a ton of mistakes along the way.         my vessel has been filled with life saving water that has turned stagnate at different times in my life and I think I'm in one of those stagnate times right now.        but the Lord is working on me and I know it.         so I really pray that it's short lived.         I want to be a vessel that is full of life giving, life saving love.          whether those around me want it or not.     

I also want to be a good channel and be a good steward of all the life giving and life sustaining blessings that God gives me on a daily basis.         I want the love of God to flow freely thru me to share with others as He so freely shares with me.          at different stages in my life, I have given of myself and shared more than I actually had to give.        and that's not being a good channel or steward of what God gives us.         we need to keep enough for ourselves so as not to get burned out and just falter at serving the Lord.

how can I continue to be a good channel and a good vessel?         I don't want to become stagnate and rotten and I don't want to let all the good that God does for me slip thru my fingers without clinging to a little for myself.        I pray for God to fill me up as His vessel and to help me share what He fills me with and be a channel for someone else to experience the blessings of God.      

just for fun, goggle the great hymn of faith, "Make Me a Channel of Blessing"  and read that hymn paying careful of the wording in the song.        I'm here to tell you and me both, that we can't ever be that channel of blessing for God with know sin in our lives.          yes, we all sin every day and we should all be repenting every day too.          the known sins in our lives are those sins that God call abominable and actions and behaviors that He says over and over in His word, that these actions and behaviors will not enter into the kingdom heaven.          they will not be found in heaven.          God is holy and He will allow unholy in heaven.  

so, this is why I've been struggling so much here lately.         I'm being bombarded by the evil and wickedness of this generation on a daily basis and I have grown hard hearted.        I've always been pretty much straight forward and blunt about things and not beat around the bush.          so when a person like me calls out sin and those around me look at me like I'm crazy, well, let's just say that all the insanity has just about caused me to not care about others anymore.        my head says, "let them go to hell, I'll hold the door open for them!!!!"          but my heart weeps and breaks because they can't see the seriousness of it.         I don't want anyone to go to hell.          and I think the Lord is showing me that it's everyones own individual choice and I can't make that choice for them.       

so my prayer for myself and for anyone else that dealing with this on a daily basis is for the Lord to hold us close and keep reminding us that the choice is for everyone to make and it's not mine/ours to make for them.  love them where they are and be a willing vessel for Him.         if I make myself a willing vessel for Him, then He'll make me a channel of blessing too.         

I don't know if this is where I was really planning on going with this post today or not.         but it is what it is and this is the struggle that I've been having.          how do I love those that are persistent in wallowing in sin when it feels like I'm casting pearls before swine.        Just like Jesus consistently loves me.           I can't love anyone in my own power, but I can love others thru the power of Jesus.         it takes a lot prayer to be a willing vessel, ready to be a channel in which the love of God can flow thru to others.        a lot of prayer.         it takes being in His word consistently.         it take a lot of forgiveness of self, on my part to let God use me as a channel of blessing to help fill other vessels with good stuff.

I still have a lot to sort thru in my head.         I don't mind telling you, it's been a struggle.            but again, the word of God says that following Him is not easy.           and it isn't.         the enemy will attack you.        the enemy will attack you!!!            THE ENEMY WILL ATTACK YOU!!!!!!!!          just know that.          we have to stay strong and in the Word and call on Jesus with every inhale and exhale of our lungs.  

I don't know if anyone else besides me needed this today,  but I know I did.         I pray that if you are having any kind of struggles like this that you will stay in the Word of God and ask Him to give you  clarity of mind and ask Him to help you stay faithful to His call in your life.         ask Him to help you know that people purposefully living is sin can NOT truly be Christians, even if they call themselves such.          when we have an experience with Christ, our lives change for the better.          killing babies and living in Sodom and Gomorrah are not actions of true Christians.         just remember that.      they call themselves that to make themselves feel better, but they are not Christians.        I have to remember that and ask God to help me remain faithful to the calling that He has over my life.

I pray that you can gain clarity over some of this.         I pray that I can gain more clarity over this and the only way to do that is to stay in the Word of God!!!           It cannot and will not fail either of us.

Father God, I pray that you will protect our minds and our hearts from all the wickedness that is in our world today.        I pray that you will give us clarity of mind in all this.        the enemy is running rampant and destroying lives in record numbers.           Your Word has told us that good will become evil and evil will become good, according to mans ways.           we are now living in that upside down world and I pray that You will protect us, Your people from this destruction.         please give us peace in our hearts and joy in our souls as we try to continue to serve You in this wicked and perverse generation.         Your will be done in our lives.         in Christ's Holy name I ask these things, amen.

be blessed and have a wonderful day, hugs, love and prayers for you all, patty